New Orleans — Canal Opening Set

Rail Transit Online, March 2004

The restored Canal Street
streetcar line has been scheduled for an Apr. 18 opening, more than six
months after the initial start date was postponed to allow street and
sidewalk repairs to be completed along the famous thoroughfare (see RTOL,
Dec. 2003). Revenue service was then to have begun in March until apparent
violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act were discovered in the
incline and surface materials of curb cuts near streetcar stops. Also at
issue is the width of gratings over sewer openings, a sidewalk slope and
landscaping deficiencies. None of these would probably have been noticed by
transit riders but a consultant who specializes in handicapped issues
reported the problems to the Regional Transit Authority. Repairs will cost
an estimated $1.9 million but it’s not clear who will be responsible, the
city, the RTA, the design team or the contractor. “This is a complicated
issue,” RTA Chairman James Reiss told The Times-Picayune. “I don't know if
there were any design or construction errors, but we're certainly going to
look into it.” All of the required modifications will be completed by
opening day. The 3.1-mi. (5 km), $161-million line was to have opened last
Oct. 11, returning streetcars to Canal after a 40-year lapse. A 1.1-mi.
(1.77 km) branch to City Park along Carrollton Avenue was due to be
completed in February but will open along with Canal.

Desire Line Delayed

Consultants planning the
Desire Line, New Orleans’ next proposed streetcar extension, have been
directed to suspend work on the project while city officials reassess their
funding strategy. A Feb. 6 letter to Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and
Douglas Inc. (PBQ&D) ordered the firm “…to immediately stop all work and
incur no additional costs of any kind.” When word of the delay got out,
Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Chairman James Reiss had to quickly deny
the new line was threatened. “This is not the death knell for Desire,”
Reiss told The Times-Picayune. “We just want to take a step back and look
at this project in terms of an overall strategic plan that will allow this
agency to go forward in a very orderly and financially responsible manner.”
That strategic plan includes several other expensive transit proposals
including extensions to one or both ends of Riverfront streetcar line,
upriver to Jackson Avenue and/or downriver to Poland Avenue; a light rail
route from downtown to Louis Armstrong International Airport; a new commuter
bus service from the suburbs and the purchase of replacement buses. None of
the other rail projects have been studied in depth. “We're trying to look
at everything that we have on our plate,” Reiss told The Times-Picayune.
“And we want to look at them strategically as to what's best for New
Orleans. Yes, there's a (Desire) project under way, but we need to ask, 'Is
this the right way to go?'”

Called the Desire Line to
capitalize on the popular Tennessee Williams play, the three-mile (4.8 km)
route would run from the existing line on Canal Street to the Industrial
Canal via North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue, although at one point
it would cross Desire Street. PBQ&D is currently preparing a Draft
Environmental Impact Statement and the RTA was tentatively planning to start
final design this year. Still unresolved is a controversy over how the
streetcar tracks would cross a Norfolk Southern Railway freight line at St.
Claude and Press Street (see RTOL, Nov. 2003). To save money, the RTA wants
a level crossing protected by electronic warning devices and automatic
gates. But the railroad has refused on safety grounds. The RTA says an
underpass is not feasible because the area’s shallow water table would make
it prone to flooding. An overpass is opposed by nearby residents on
esthetic grounds and by the RTA, which says the $27-million structure is
unaffordable. That standoff could kill the project, although RTA officials
say a downriver extension of the Riverfront line could be an alternative,
albeit one that would serve far fewer potential riders. In the six years
since work on Desire began, the RTA has spent $7.4 million, with total
capital costs estimated at $108 million. The city hopes to get at least 40
percent of that from Washington.